My grandmother made clothes. She made dresses for herself and various items for the family. I loved hanging out with her when she was making a dress. The svelt illustrations on the cover of the pattern packaging captured my imagination and the thin paper of the pattern pieces intrigued me. She laid out her fabric on the kitchen table, unfolded the pieces and gently pinned them to the fabric with straight pins, held in her lips for convenience. Then she carefully cut the pieces out, sat down at her sewing machine and sewed them together lickety split – voilá a dress! She could make anything. One year, when I was 6, I asked for a “boy” doll for Christmas. My mother, determined to give me what I asked for, searched high and low and couldn’t find a male doll. So she bought a “girl” doll, cut it’s hair short, took off its dress and my grandmother made him an outfit complete with a red ball cap, shorts and shirt. I found my boy doll under the tree Christmas morning, in the original box.
Years later, in the late 80’s/early 90’s I moved from West Palm Beach, Florida (I was down there working for Pratt & Whitney) back home to Knoxville, Tennessee, looking for work. Levis offered me a job as an Inspector, I accepted. That first day was an eye opener, at once new and familiar. Levis at that time still made jeans by hand with union labor. It was my grandmother’s process on a larger scale: men cut jeans pieces, front, back, pockets & belt loops, out of denim fabric from a pattern on a big table with pneumatic scissors, women sat at sewing machines stitching the pieces together, adding pockets and details specific to that particular style, lastly women sat at individual machines adding the signature rivets. My job was to ensure the quality of each pair, verified with a stamp. Each and every pair of Levis jeans were made by humans. Levis paid well with full benefits. There was even a full time nurse on staff because accidents happen when things are made by hand. No rose colored glasses here – the work caused chronic conditions such as carpal tunnel, “tennis elbow” and other repetitive motion injuries. But people came to work happy and proud of making something that people needed. Levis was a company with integrity, they treated their employees well. I fell in love with the workers, the jeans and the company. And those jeans that are handmade last almost forever.
Levis moved their facilites overseas to remain competitive. Now their jeans sell in outlet malls. If there are handmade jeans still being made and sold in the US, we would love to partner with the business that make them. We sell them on this site through partner shop Abiquiu Mercantile. Their jeans, along with other handmade clothing, are made in the UK in the same shop they tailor-make clothing in. Buying artisan handmade is an investment in people: the people who make the goods (and their families), the people who provide the raw materials (and their families) and the people who own the businesses who sell the goods (who sacrifice a certain amount of competition for integrity). I still have jeans from Levis handmade shop and I still have clothes my grandmother made. Investments I have never regretted.
~ Rebecca Rose Smith
